The Soviet Gulag

Cris MartinDavis Center for Russian

and Eurasian StudiesHarvard University

Soviet GULAGGlavnoye Upravleniye Lagerey—Main Camp

Administration

Gulag Statistics Existed 1918—1987,

most active during Stalin’s reign, 1929-1953

476 camp systems, hundreds, thousands of individual camps

Estimated 18 million imprisoned, 6 million exiled (15% of the population)

“A single round number of dead victims would be extremely satisfying, particularly since it would allow us to compare Stalin directly with Hitler or with Mao. Yet, even if we could find one, I’m not sure it would really tell the whole story of suffering either. No official figures, for example, can possibly reflect the mortality of the wives and children and aging parents left behind…”~Anne Appelbaum

Early Soviet History 1921: USSR

established under Lenin

1922: Stalin named General Secretary of Communist Party

1924: Lenin dies 1929: Stalin

overcomes rivals to become head of USSR

Communism Political and economic doctrine that

aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society.

In theory, communism would create a classless society of abundance and freedom, in which all people enjoy equal social and economic status.

Stalin’s Goals Industrialization Collectivization of Agriculture Dekulakization 5 Year Plan

Rationale behind Gulag Remove criminal

elements from Soviet society

Rehabilitation and construction of supreme Soviet utopia

Stalin’s psyche and need for power

Economy

Soviet economy Free labor would benefit Soviet

industrialization Prisoners were too ill, weak,

underfed, untrained to be productive

System became to large and far-reaching

Gulag became financial burden despite attempts to make it more productive in the early 1940s

Belomor Canal 141 miles long,

only 6-12 feet deep Basically useless

for large vessels, barges, passenger ships

Stalin considered it a great success

Over 100,000 prisoners died during its construction

Today, only 10-40 boats per day use canal

Types of prisoners Criminals Political

Prisoners Article 58

Other

Propaganda and a culture of fear “Nobody knew what

tomorrow would bring. People were afraid to talk to one another or meet, especially families in which the father or mother had already been ‘isolated.’”~Yelena Sidorkina, arrested 1937

I won the Nobel Prize

for Literature,

what did you do?

The Great Terror 1937-38 700,000 shot Kirov’s assassination

led to new decrees and greater power for NKVD

Claimed life of Yagoda, and Yezhov (pictured).

A prisoner’s journey Arrest/interrogation/prison

Trial?

Transport

Life in the Camps: Work Work varied by camp location Survival often depended on your job Fulfilling the norm Tufta, or cheating Avoiding work

Life in the Camps: Food

Dictated camp life

What you ate depended on how much of the norm was fulfilled

Victim of the “big ration”

Daily rationsCauldron I: 300 g.

bread, 1 liter thin soup, spoonful of groats, 1 liter soup

Cauldron II: 500 g. bread, 1 liter soup, 2 spoonfuls groats, 1 piece spoiled fish

Cauldron III: 700 g. bread, 1/2liter soup, 2 liters soup, 2 spoonfuls groats, 1 piece spoiled fish

Life in the camps: Weather, Violence

Russian winters

Barracks Threats from

criminals

Aftermath 1953: Stalin died Within 3 weeks, mass amnesty

declared 1956: Khrushchev’s secret

speech Destalinization 1951: A Day in the Life published Restalinization under

Brezhnev

The end of the Gulag 1988: Last camp

closed Today still little

discussion of Gulag in Russia

No national monument to victims and survivors

In 2003, Russian citizens were asked, “What role did Stalin play in the history of our country?”

Positive 53%Surely Negative 33%Difficult to say 14%

Themes Identity

Power

Reconciliation

Why should we care?“I wrote my book about the Gulag not

‘so that it will not happen again,’ as the cliche has it, but because it probably will happen again. We need to know why--and each story, each memoir, each document is a piece of the puzzle. Without them, we will wake up one day and realize that we do not know who we are.”

~Anne Applebaum